3 islands

i have lived in mactan island for almost 8 years now. i was able to go snorkeling somewhere in some of the neighboring islands over (lip pointing) there but that was not counted because it was sneaky (we didn't pay the fee of 1 thousand something pesos) and it only lasted over an hour. 

so, during the three days (youth camp) of no electricity, very drought-like rationing of water, meager food, sleeping with the chickens (i'm serious!), sleeping on the sand (on thin mattress) ----- okay, the good stuff: beautiful, breathtaking sunrise, sentimental sunsets, clean air and slow and quiet days (except for screaming youths), i, along with ems, jore, bing and lani, had the excuse of accompanying ptr. ares to do island hopping. (for the record this is the worst sentence/grammar ever!!!)

all photos except for the first one was taken by jore

1st day sunrise - hilutungan island

captain jack sparrow has nothing on our boatman!

perfect shades of blue

nalusuan island

floating leilani

ems

lunch of  grilled stuff. squid. chicken. fish & also fresh mango

on the way to snorkeling

ems & i

these are mostly koreans. there are so many of them inlove with our waters 

ka-awhagan island

perfecting water jump : ivy faith

water zombie : ptr. ares

3 of the million shots of hair flipping.  i realize i am not a hair-flipping-girl. jore nearly burst an nerve because of this. but these three are not bad, right?

leilani

water-flipping on the other hand is a different matter!!

beaches. water. islands. has a way  of opening up personalities. shedding off inhbitions. haha. 

right at the moment i am 5 shades darker than my natural color and am not sure if my summer is over yet.

a BIG P.S
a friend of ours has a business of island hopping if you want you and your friends to have fun this summer in cebu & mactan islands, you only have to pay P 5000.00 and you already get to visit the 3 islands. this already includes your lunch on the boat!
If you want to have lunch on one of the islands yourself, you have to pay P 3000 only for the boat ride. you still get to see the islands Hilutungan, Nalusuan & Ka-awhagan.

Lunch in Nalusuan : P 450.00 - 550.00 (free snorkeling in the fish sanctuary)
Lunch in Hilutungan: P 550.00 (free snorkeling in the fish sanctuary)

you can also bring your own snacks and lots and lots of water! 
for more inquiries, please message ivy faith in facebook :-)

the Ruins

the Ruins. i have heard of this place only maybe two to three years ago... and every time cousins dear of mine posted photos of themselves while touring the place i get really envious. like someone very close to my heart once ask, "how could you have not seen it when you are from negros?" i have been living in cebu now for nearly seven years and the i have't heard of the rise of the Ruins as a tourist spot until three years ago. i have always wanted to go. it looks so majestic in the pictures. 

we originally plan to go around 4 in the afternoon to catch the sunset. they said the sunset is awesome in this place. and also to take advantage of the "golden hour" as they call it, for picture taking. we didn't make it to the "golden hour" though it was dusk when we got there. i was so sorry we weren't able to properly tour the place like a true tourist; you know listen to the tour guide talk about how the finish of the walls shine through because the cement was mixed with egg whites (oh, yes. i did listen for about a minute or two), etc.

pretty fountain by the entrance with (l-r) dayen, me, les and ruby

we were blessed to still be able to see the last nights beauty of the not-so-super moon on our way back to richmond inn for family dinner :), was still so beautiful actually. 

thank you very much to my very generous and wonderful cousin, che-che for the pictures. yes che... even for the blurry ones. lol

if you wanted to see what this place looks like in the sunset and also read an interesting and much more detailed and intelligent history of the ruins, click HERE.

hoping

according to apostle paul; the 3 geat values are faith, hope and love. faith and love are well understood in the church, even if our practice of them may leave much to be desired.

hope, however, is a neglected virtue. it is that certain confidence and expectation we have concerning the future God has prepared for us; as such, it is of crucial importance since it will shape our motivations. what we hope for will determine how we act and how we spend our lives.

so you maybe in the deepest of tunnels... carrying the most burdensome worries... crying over a deep hurt... disappointed over a failed expectation --- u may wish to be dead at times

via

via

...and most importantly, God has something great prepared for those who continue to hope in him. it may not sound substantial to some but for those of us who have experienced his goodness, nothing can equal to this truth.